Cross References To Related Applications
Copending application of Richard Horrigan, U.S. Ser. No. 388,802 filed June 16, 1982 and entitled SAFETY RELEASE PET COLLAR, now allowed and issuing on Jan. 24, 1984 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,957.
This invention relates to halters for horses and like animals, and more particularly to safety or breakaway halters that are intended to automatically release the animal in the event that the halter becomes caught or snagged on a tree or branch, or other object.
In the above-identified copending application there is disclosed a safety release dog collar comprising a neck strap having a pair of free ends which are located closely adjacent each other and provided with stress-releasable means in the form of hook-and-loop fabric strips so arranged that, should the collar become snagged on a branch or other object, the free ends can separate in response to a predetermined tensile force thereon so as to release the animal, unharmed. The free ends also carry rings in loop portions thereof, which rings are engageable by a clasp in a manner to over-ride the stress-releasable means and prevent operation or separation of the same and the consequent opening of the collar. The clasp could be at the end of a leash, whereby the collar can serve for walking or exercising the dog without its inadvertently opening and freeing the animal. Such arrangement has been found to be extremely satisfactory, and in consequence the safety dog collar of the identified copending application has had good acceptance on the part of the public.
A prior patent which discloses a breakaway horse halter is that issued to E. Pacini under U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,384 dated Sept. 20, 1971. This patent reveals a halter wherein the neck strap has a pair of free end portions overlying one another in contiguous juxtaposition and secured together by a stress-releasable means in the form of hook-and-loop fabric strips. Upon the halter experiencing undue and excessive longitudinal tensile forces as due to its being snagged or caught on a tree limb or other object, the free ends of the neck strap will part due to separation of the hook-and-loop fabric strips from one another. The halter will then free the horse, so that the animal can escape injury.
A drawback of this prior breakaway halter resides in the fact that no positive control of the animal can be had, in the event that such is desired by a trainer, owner or other authorized person, since any appreciable restraint placed by such person on the halter could result in the latter becoming released, undesirably freeing the animal. Moreover, it is not apparent how any supplemental fastener could be readily utilized with the hook-and-loop fabric strips of the patent to overcome this problem, and indeed the patentee appears to have never contemplated the problem nor its solution, insofar as the disclosure of the patent is concerned.
To my knowledge no one, prior to the present invention, has provided a safety-release halter for horses and like animals wherein the automatic release means can be easily and quickly rendered inoperative at will, as desired by the owner or trainer or other person, so that the normal restraint provided by a conventional halter is had. Under certain circumstances such normal restraint is essential, as when the horse becomes frightened or unruly for one reason or another.
In the prior patented breakaway halter the normal flexibility of the neck strap is advantageously preserved by the use of fabric strips of the hook-and-loop variety to constitute the stress-releasable means. This general characteristic of all good halters, i.e. flexibility, is considered to be extremely important to owners and trainers, since the comfort of the animal is involved, and this often has a bearing on its disposition. Moreover, for a rider, gentle horses are often preferred, or those who are at ease generally and not bothered by accouterments that fit poorly or can irritate. Prior devices intended to be worn by a horse or like animal, which can cause discomfort and injury, are not considered to be acceptable for general use.